Unlike the vitamix, the best vitamix food processor alternatives will offer similar functionality but at a lower cost. Many of us are familiar with the brand often called the best on the market: Vitamix. You can power through the toughest ingredients with this high-performance food processor.
All kinds of recipes can be made with ease using the Vitamix food processor, from nut butters to soups. However, it is very expensive. Most people can’t afford such an expensive food processor. Fortunately, there are a number of more budget-friendly Vitamix alternatives on the market.
In order to buy a blender similar to a Vitamix food processor, you have to consider the following factors: power, capacity, warranty, blades, and what kind of recipes you want to make. Many options are available at a variety of price points to suit your budget.
You can save a lot of time in the kitchen with the best food processor. In addition to chopping onions and shredding cheese, they can whip up smooth purees and chunky dips. However, if you’ve ever been discouraged by the high price of food processors, you’re not alone. Fortunately, it’s easier to find models under $100 these days, and the best budget food processors can accomplish the same tasks as high-end models at an affordable price.
Alternatives to Vitamix
In the most basic sense, a good food processor should be able to chop, mix, blend, slice, and shred using disc attachments. Depending on what you want to prepare and how much you want to prepare, you have several options when it comes to bowl capacity. If you don’t have the space for a large food processor, remember that you can usually process your ingredients in two or more batches.
In order to chop ingredients in short bursts without over-processing, a pulse button is essential. Wide feed chutes make adding ingredients easier, and require less preparation when slicing or shredding. Most machines can cut butter into flour for pastry and biscuits; however, heavier recipes like pizza dough require stronger motors and heavier bases, so you may want to spend a bit more on a heavy-duty food processor. Here are the best vitamix food processor alternatives below – so you can prepare whatever you want without spending a lot.
Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Stack & Snap Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper
Hamilton Beach’s large 12-cup food processor costs under $50, making it the best value here when it comes to capacity. In addition to a large feed tube that can fit tomatoes, it has a two-part pusher for narrow items that would normally tilt when meeting the fast-moving discs of the slicer and shredder.
Hamilton Beach’s Stack and Snap lid attaches to the work bowl, unlike most food processors which have bulky twist-on lids. Function and speed buttons are raised and easy to press, and include three settings: a slice/shred speed, a puree/mix speed, and a pulse button for chopping to incorporate multiple ingredients before mixing.
Hamilton Beach Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper 10 Cups
The last time you used a food processor to make thick dips or sticky nut butters, you probably had to remove the lid to wipe down the sides of the bowl when ingredients moved up or splattered.
Hamilton Beach’s 10-cup food processor features an innovative but simple attachment that lets you manually scrape the sides of the work bowl while the processor is running. By doing this, you can save time and prevent rubber or silicone spatulas from getting sliced while cleaning the bowl. This large capacity work bowl allows you to chop, slice, and shred a lot of food before having to empty it, and the two-speed design lets you make a wide range of recipes.
What are the only drawbacks? Its chute is slightly smaller than the one above, it lacks a two-part pusher, and the power dial isn’t as easy to use as buttons or a touch pad.
Ninja Food Chopper Express Chop
The compact 16 ounces (2 cups) Ninja food processor is more of a chopper than a food processor, but it can still handle a wide range of kitchen tasks. Stacking the blades provides superior chopping for salsa, garlic, herbs, vegetables, and nuts, and it won’t over-process ingredients as some flat-blade designs do.
A single ergonomic button can be pulsed to chop, or held down to mix items such as small batches of dips, sauces, and even eggs for omelettes or fried rice. A nonstick ring surrounds the base of the work bowl so it remains stable during operation. Despite the Ninja’s inability to slice or shred, for its affordable $20 price tag, it’s a great pick for many recipe prep tasks, and due to its compact size, it’s easy to store.
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